Dora
DORA (τὰ Δῶρα), a maritime town of Palestine, locally situated in the half tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, but left in possession of the old Canaanitish inhabitants. (Judges, i. 27.) Scylax (p. 42), who calls it DORUS says that it was a city of the Sidonians. It is frequently, mentioned by Josephus, whose notices enable us to identify it with the modern village of Tantura. It was a city of Phoenicia, near Mount Carmel. (Joseph. Vit. § 8; c. Apion. 2.9.) It was a strong fortress when Tryphon held it against Antiochus Pius (Ant. 13.7.2). Caesarea is placed by him between Dora and Joppa, both which maritime towns are described as having bad harbours, owing to their exposure to the south-west wind, which rolled in heavy breakers upon the sandy coast, and forced the merchants to anchor in the open sea (15.9. 6). St. Jerome describes it as anciently a most powerful city, but a ruin in his time (Epitaph Paulae), situated 9 miles from Caesarea, on the road to Ptolemais. (Onomast. s. v.; Reland, Palaest. pp. 738--741.) There are extensive ruins here, but they possess nothing of interest.( Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 190.)
[G.W](τὰ Δῶρα), Dorus, Dorum, called Dor in the Old Testament. The most southerly town of Phoenicia on the coast, on a kind of peninsula at the foot of Mount Carmel.
An important city on the Palestinian coast, the capital of a satrapy in the Persian period. According to Skylax (first half of 4th c. B.C.), Dora was a Tyrian colony. By the middle of the 3d c. B.C. there was a royal fortress there (I Macc. 15:11-14). When the Seleucid kingdom of Syria began to decline, Dora and nearby Strato's Tower were ruled by the tyrant Zoilus, from whom Alexander Jannaeus obtained Dora through negotiation (Joseph. AJ 13.324-35). After the conquest of Palestine by Pompey in 64 B.C., Dora became autonomous and was rebuilt by Gabinius (Joseph. BJ 1.156, 409). During the Roman period there still was a strong fortress there (AJ 13.223-24.324; 14.76; 15.333). On the eve of the Revolt against the Romans, the emperor's statue was placed in the local synagogue (Joseph. Vit. 31). In the early 3d c. A.D. Septimius Severus annexed it to Phcenicia. In the Byzantine period Dora became part of Palestina Prima. Eusebius (Onom. 78.9) refers to Dora as a town in ruins, a description later confirmed by the pilgrim Paula (Hieron. Pregr. Paulae 5).
Its remains consist of the ancient mound. Trial excavations have produced traces of continuous occupation from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian period. The remains of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine towns are by far the most extensive and cover a large area. Close to the coast are the imposing remains of a Roman temple and theater. The city had a double harbor, the division made by a natural cliff, on which was built a massive tower. To the Byzantine period belong remains of a large church.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Garstang & J. W. Phytian-Adams, Bulletin of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem 4 (1924) 35-45, pls. I-III; 6 (1924) 65-73; G. M. Fitzgerald, ibid. 7 (1925) 80-98; M. Avi-Yonah, The Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640). A Historical Geography (1966).
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